Ciao, amori! Almost like clockwork, I once again have my annual winter back pain. Nothing says new year, new you like the inability to move your neck from left to right. If this is what my late 20s are like, I am not looking forward to my 30s. But physical woes aside, I have an update that will lift your spirits as it has lifted mine. Two weeks ago when I detailed the tragic loss of my local frutería, I thought the barrio would never recover. I am happy to report that I was wrong. The new frutería is actually super nice. Turns out it was just in it’s opening phase and they now have a lot of very cheap produce and a wide variety of other food products. And the new owners are just as nice! Que maravilla.
In today’s edition, I’m discussing some drama in Spain around Eurovision, a desktop wallpaper discovery, and another coming out story. I wrote this all before the first night of Sanremo Music Festival (which was last night), so there won’t be any bits on it today. I’ll probably be detailing the results in some form in the next newsletter. But! I wanted to put it out there that Mahmood and Blanco’s song Brividi is first in the classification and it’s beautiful. You can check out the video for it below, and here’s the Spotify playlist for Sanremo 2022! Now back to today’s topics.
I. 2019 was a wild year in my life, truly. I made a pact with myself to travel somewhere every month. I was working from 9am to 9pm. I attended a record number of concerts. I played guest and host several times. I was booked and busy in every sense of the phrase. Amongst all the chaos, a tradition was born. A friend of mine (hey, girlie, I know you’re reading!) gifted me a calendar for Christmas with a bunch of insane photos of myself. Twelve months later, we were both exchanging the cringiest calendars. So it’s 2022, and we’re still going strong (to be fair, three years is…not long). I thought to myself, “How do I one up this hoe?” Do I go full photoshop with her face? Or my face? Do I stage a photoshoot and theme the calendar? Is 2022 a year for insane quotes? Maybe get really cubist! While wracking my brain, I had an epiphany - a desktop background. Yes, twelve unique desktop backgrounds that include quotes, text bubbles, a touch of photoshop, and of course, a calendar. The perfect companion to the print edition we’ve been doing.
What started out as a fun joke turned kind of serious as I started looking for easy online templates to manipulate (read: I was lazy). While I couldn’t find anything worth my while, I happened upon an Etsy site that offers minimalistic desktop wallpaper organisers. My interest was piqued. A few more googles and I found a whole world of desktop background organising. You’ve got your calendars. You’ve got your file organisers. You’ve got your manifestations and quotes sections. You’ve got your little vision boards!! I am no photoshop wizard per se, but I make do. So, I figured I’d take a stab at making my own. It’s by no means done, but when it is, I will show y’all. Or I might not, if it’s embarrassing. Only time will tell.
II. I’ve come out to my grandfather, I believe, three times now. Yes, it’s been at least three times. Now I know you’ve probably gone to a negative place as to why. But it’s not for any reason that has to do with him being unaccepting, not understanding, or straight up homophobic. He literally just cannot remember. Now I know I said that I’ve come out to him three times. But there have been countless instances of family members telling him as well. To his credit, he is currently 91 and half the time I was with him in December, he couldn’t remember that I was related to his daughter…my mother. But he’s known this information since 2013 when he met my now ex-boyfriend and he had a better grasp as to what was going on around him. My grandmother told him various times. And recently my mother had to go through the ordeal. Let me take you through what the conversation is like:
Him: So, do you have a girlfriend?
Me: No, that’s not really my thing, Pap.
He takes a short pause to mull over my words.
Him: So, are you gay?
Me: Yeah, I am.
Him, a little flustered, defensive, and embarrassed: Not that it matters to me. Whatever floats your boat.
Me: Yeah, no. I totally get it.
And then the conversation either ends and moves on to another topic. Leaving this dialogue to be repeated another day. Or he tells me about some guy down the street who’s also gay, and then he moves on to another topic. Obviously, I’m not taking any of this personally. The man is 91. It’s just funny at this point, and honestly, I hope to come out to him for many years to come.
III. As we get closer and closer to May, the Eurovision news in this newsletter is going to increase and increase until the point where you may just fully unsubscribe (but don’t <3). This year Spain has decided to choose their entry with Benidorm Fest. A song competition that is based off the Benidorm Song Festival of years prior which is based off the Sanremo Music Festival in Italy which Eurovision is based off of! Confusing! The short version is that it’s basically a mini Eurovision contest but just for España. As a side note, I personally really liked the format and hope they stick with it for many years to come but like I’m not a permanent resident here so they probably won’t listen to me. Anyway. This past week the festival was held and honey, the girls are fighting!! Something ensued that few other nationalities rival Spaniards in: DRAMA.
After three nights, Spain chose Chanel’s SloMo over several other acts. If you’re curious as to who else was competing, here’s a playlist. As I watched the final unfold, it seemed like the jury and the public had two very different opinions. Tanxugueiras were given dirt by the jury and glorified by the public. While Rigoberta Bandini was riding comfortably up top, Chanel’s jury points secured her win. Let me tell you, the Twiter Gays™️ popped off. I’m not going to deep dive into the drama, but if you’re craving it, Wiwibloggs has a quick rundown here.
I’m definitely sad my personal favourite, Rigoberta, didn’t make it through. I think her song is unique, fun, powerful, and catchy. Without even seeing the rest of the national entries, I could tell it would’ve done well at Eurovision. Tanxugueiras also have a great song with an important message, highlighting the culture and language in Galicia. And Chanel’s song isn’t bad per se, but it does seem overdone. I’ve said it before, but I’m sure there will be another act or two that is very similar. That being said, she’ll also probably do well. And at this point, all Spain can hope for is that they literally do better than second-to-last place. Chanel can definitely get them there.
Bonus content: Here’s the crowd at the final singing along to Rigoberta’s Ay Mamá.
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The Subscript - a collection of things I’m into at the moment sans explainers.